Appalachian Power planning upgrades for Jackson, Mason counties

RAVENSWOOD, W.Va. — Appalachian Power will soon begin work to rebuild about 30 miles of transmission line in Jackson and Mason counties.

Company spokesman Phil Moye told WMOV Radio in Ravenswood the project is anticipated to cost about $60 million.

“It’s a fair amount of money, but it’s something that’s going to insure we don’t have as many outages,” said Moye. “It’s also going to assure when we do have an outage it will be less lengthy.”

The plans call for upgrading lines and substations in the communities of Ravenswood, Ripley, Cottageville and Letart. Some of the equipment has been in place since the 1950’s and needs to be refurbished, replaced and upgraded.

“The life span of those is near where it needs to be replaced,” said Moye. “We want to make sure the power grid that functions well now will function well in the future.”

The transmission lines will be build back on some of the same Right of Way area, but other parts will be moved to new Rights of Way. A meeting May 15 at the Millwood Armory from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. will allow the public to have more input on the route.

Chris Lawrence

Chris Lawrence is the anchor of the MetroNews Morning News, heard weekday mornings from 6-9 a.m. on MetroNews stations across West Virginia. Chris is also the host of the award-winning West Virginia Outdoors, heard Saturday mornings at 7 a.m. across the network. Chris has won numerous awards for coverage of hunting and fishing.